Peace kolo for Guinness to mark 100 years since Battle of Kolubara

BELGRADE – A peace kolo will be danced to mark 100 years since the famous Battle of Kolubara in World War I, in which Serbia secured a great victory, and organizers have announced that they would like to gather at least 10,000 participants, and thus break a Guinness world record.

The kolo is a traditional chain dance. The name probably derives from the Old Slavic word for “wheel”, as dancers form a circle holding each other’s hand.

This symbolic kolo of peace will be organized around Kolubara Lake at the open-pit mine in Crljeni (the Belgrade municipality of Lazarevac) on September 14, this year, Tanjug learnt from Goran Perisic, a representative of the Kolubara mining basin (located at a part of the site of the Kolubara Battle) that will organize the event.

He noted that the initiative had already stirred great interest, with people from the Serb diaspora and countries in the territory of the former Yugoslavia already applying to partake in the event.

Organizers got the support of the municipalities located along the WWI front line, and Perisic said that invitations will be sent to ambassadors of all states that took part in the Great War.

He noted that this will be an opportunity to pay tribute to the fallen in a unique way, and send a message of peace from the site of the Battle of Kolubara.

The Battle of Kolubara is the most significant battle between the armies of the Kingdom of Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I which took place from November 16 to December 15, 1914, on the 200km-wide front.

The Battle ended with the counter-offensive, which was carried out by the First Army under the command of General Zivojin Misic, at the moment when the entire world awaited the news about the capitulation of the Kingdom of Serbia.

During the Battle of Kolubara, 22,000 Serbian soldiers were killed, 91,000 soldiers, 10,184 officers and non-commissioned officers suffered injuries, while the total of 150,000 people were put out of action, including the captives, diseased and missing people.

As far as the Balkan army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is concerned, over 28,000 soldiers lost their lives, over 122,000 were injured, while the total of over 273,000 soldiers, officers and non-commissioned officers were put out of action.

That is a unique example in the history of wars that one army got reorganized for a short time, mounted a counter-offensive and inflicted a major defeat to the enemy, which is still studied at military schools across the world.